By beginning our discussion with the most prestigious and individual aspects of the archaeological record, warrior burials with chariots, and then following such themes as helmets and horsemanship, we have concentrated on the unusual rather than on the mass of the evidence. Such a course is compounded both by the archaeological richness and by the predilection for the unusual among the classical authors, perhaps a natural partiality of reportage. But the large numbers of burials belonging to the core of any warrior band, which have been found in particular areas of Celtic Europe (though not in others), is in itself remarkable. Almost no other group represented in the archaeological and historical evidence from such a wide geographical spectrum commands comparable respect from its peers (and it is perhaps worth noting that burials of mercenary Celts are almost unknown). This respect may also be sensed in the absence of evidence for grave-robbing, although the location of many burials must have been evident.
The ritual and religious aspects of Celtic warfare and weapons may seem at some remove from the essentially practical aspects of this chapter, but the richness of the preservation of organic material from votive deposits in many parts of the Celtic world and the large numbers of weapons discovered in watery circumstances make this an important source of information. Did such deposits represent dedication before the battle, with the casting of swords, shields, spears and bronze objects into the waters of the river ThiMe near its confluence with the Lac de Neuchatel at La Tene or into the pool of Llyn Cerrig Bach in Anglesey? Were such rituals part of a thanksgiving after a successful campaign with the deposit of weapons gathered from the battlefield? The circumstances of such offerings can never be known, but the preservation of evidence for the shape and make-up of shields as at La Tene or identification of the ash of spear shafts make them a valuable source of practical information. Ritual dedication of weapons may be an answer at Gournay-sur-Aronde (Oise), a ditched enclosure with an internal stockade; the stockade appears to have been decorated with trophies of warrior gear (sword, scabbard, shield, spearhead), particularly on the eastern side of the enclosure. Skulls too appear to have been displayed. The ritual aspects of the site are obviously one reason for its importance: the large numbers of weapons recorded in stratified deposits - over 200 shields for example - are among the most extensive in the Celtic world (Brunaux et al. 1985; Brunaux and Rapin 1988).
World History
